Courthouse In Ocoee A Busy Spot For Dispensing Justice

OCOEE — Anthony Goodwin, David Lancaster and Jeffrey Gibson all learned last Friday exactly what price they would have to pay for breaking the law on some minor offenses.

Their cases represented a typical day in court at the Ocoee branch courthouse, 475 W. Story Road, where Judge Thomas Kirkland presides. It is one of three such court annexes in the county. The other two are in Apopka and Winter Park where Judge Theo Bronson presides.

Those three were among the continuous flow of defendants who entered pleas and were sentenced for various misdemeanors.

Goodwin found out that he would have to submit to a number of conditions under his one year of supervised probation for possessing marijuana. They included paying a $200 fine, doing 10 days of community service work, abstaining from alcohol or drugs, having a weekly urine test and entering a drug alternative program.

Lancaster also was put on one year of supervised probation for petty theft or shoplifting. In addition to a $200 fine, he also has to do 45 days of community service and undergo a psychological evaluation.

Gibson, 17, pleaded no contest to the four charges against him -- fleeing to elude police, reckless driving, no valid driver's license and no tag. He was placed under house arrest for two months and given one year of supervised probation for the most serious of the charges, fleeing. For the other offenses, he was put on two years of unsupervised probation, which includes one year of not driving.

Kirkland calmly handed down his judgments and sentences to sometimes nervous defendants who stood with hands stuffed in their pockets or clasped behind their backs. They listened closely, answered and asked questions when appropriate, and sheepishly thanked him at the end. Other cases Kirkland heard involved drunken driving, driving with a suspended license, and resisting arrest without violence.

The judge made sure each defendant understood the conditions of his probation and the penalty if they violated the rules. He told each how long they had to appeal a verdict and explained any changes in the law that might affect them. In some instances, he explained why he handed down a particular sentence and told the defendant when he empathized with their position and showed leniency when he could.

There were a number of people who did not appear for their court date. If courthouse annexes did not exist in outlying areas there probably would be more no-shows, Kirkland said. That is why the courthouse annexes were established, to bring the services closer to the people, he said.

The branch courthouses, like the rest of county court system, handle misdemeanor cases only. Those cases requiring a jury trial are conducted in a downtown Orlando courtroom, he said. He spends every other week in Orlando to handle those jury trials.

During a typical week at the Ocoee annex, Kirkland usually has traffic arraignments on Mondays; arraignments for criminal cases are on Tuesday mornings, and Tuesday afternoons are reserved for those contesting a traffic infraction such as tickets issued as a result of an accident.

On Wednesdays, Kirkland presides over hearings and motions made by attorneys. Non-jury trials are held all day Thursdays and pleas and sentencings are scheduled for Fridays.

The range of cases covered by the branch courthouses includes traffic violations, civil matters dealing with damages involving $2,500 to $5,000, and small claims cases involving less than $2,500. It also handles charges stemming from a variety of misdemeanors including battery, trespassing, spouse abuse and hunting and fishing and boating violations. Court personnel will even help the parties involved with their small claims. Those matters would be handled under three separate divisions at the main courthouse, said Shirley Charles, division manager of the clerk's office at the Ocoee annex.

Marriage licenses also are issued at the court clerk's office, where the marriage ceremony also can be performed upon request for a $10 fee. During 1985, 487 were issued at the Ocoee annex, she said.

Despite the rural setting of the courthouse, ''I see a lot of people from around the country and from other countries because Disney World in the west division's area is so international,'' Kirkland said.

A majority of the cases handled at the Ocoee annex are traffic offenses. The west division, which includes Pine Hills, the Disney-World/Sea World area, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Windermere and Oakland, contains some of the busiest highways in the area such as portions of the East-West Expressway, Interstate 4, the Bee Line Expressway, Florida's Turnpike, Kirkman Road and John Young Parkway.

Of the 26,437 cases filed in Ocoee last year, 24,441 were traffic related; in Winter Park, 23,930 of the 26,620 handled dealt with traffic while in Apopka, 12,854 of the 13,876 filed concerned traffic, according to court statistics. The branches took care of 36 percent of the 186,906 cases handled through the county court system in 1985.

Through March of this year, 6,204 cases had been filed in Ocoee, 6,022 in Winter Park and 4,316 in Apopka. There were 49,819 cases filed in the county. The county court system is not a replacement for the municipal courts, which were phased out in 1976 through a constitutional amendment. However, some of the cases they handle used to fall under the jurisdiction of the city courts.

The amendment that abolished the city courts also revamped the county and circuit court systems, Kirkland said.